


Mal takes UCLA

by USWNTDeservesBetter



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-30
Updated: 2016-05-30
Packaged: 2018-07-11 05:04:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7030138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/USWNTDeservesBetter/pseuds/USWNTDeservesBetter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mal's first weekend at UCLA</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mal takes UCLA

Mal and Nick:

 

The past year had been a whirlwind for Mal. She had gotten her first call up to a senior camp in December, got her first cap, and goal after January Camp, started in both Olympic Qualifying and the She Believes Cup, made the Olympic roster, and won an Olympic Gold Medal. And that was just soccer wise.

 

At 17/18 years old, she also had to manage her high school self, she went to semi-formal dances, Prom, and graduation, on top of all of her school work.

 

She tried to tell herself she was just a normal kid, going through what normal teenagers deal with, but when you are standing next to Carli Lloyd, Hope Solo and Becky Sauerbrunn in front of 50,000 people and singing the national anthem at the Olympics, it’s a little bit of a reality check that maybe you aren’t just an average teenager.

 

Her first day on the UCLA campus was a bit of a reality check for her as well. She had won an Olympic gold medal just 10 days earlier, participated in the closing ceremonies with the gals, flew home to Colorado to a massive parade and greeting, and then had to turn back around to go to school. She missed the first two weeks of preseason, but the coaches and players didn’t care, she might have had the best excuse in the world. She was at an all-time-personal high, but she also had a whole new set of goals and challenges in front of her.

 

She was ready to immerse herself in school and in soccer. She knew with her newfound celebrity status, that she really wasn’t going to be able to live the typical college kid life any time soon. All it took was one picture with a beer in her hand, or her making out with some random boy in the corner to break her image. She had learned a lot from her teammates about social media over the past few months, and one of those things were how to stay out of trouble.

 

“Mal, you have two hours to get ready. We’re going to a party at the football house, and you can’t say no.” Said Lauren, a senior captain on UCLA’s soccer team.

 

“But!” Mal objected, but she didn’t really think she could win.

 

“Olympic gold medal or no, you are still a freshman on this team. You missed initiation night for closing ceremonies, so you ARE going out with us tonight.”

 

“Okay.” Mal said sheepishly, looking at Anna, her fellow freshman and roommate, who had a slight smirk on her face.

 

Mal was freaking out. This was her first college party, she had no clue what to expect, or more importantly, what to wear. So she made a phone call.

 

“Hey Alex!”

 

“MAL!! What’s up kid!”

 

“Are you busy?”

 

“No, I’m just sitting by the pool with Blue. Ash and Ali are here too…” Alex flips the camera to reveal the blonde and brunette laying in pool chairs next to Alex.

 

“Hey College girl, how is UCLA treating you?” Ali asked, Ash was in the background franticly waving at the phone, being her usual, goofy self.

 

“It’s great! But that’s actually why I called. I need outfit advice, I’m going out tonight, and I have no idea what to wear.” Alex was Mal’s go to when it came to fashion, and Ali was always a close second so she was glad that they were together. They were the ones that took her prom dress shopping before a friendly in April, and she knew that they had a fantastic since of style.

 

“Our Baby Mal is growing up! Getting ready for her first big college party!” Ash yelled from the background. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t have done Mal!”

 

“Except make out with guys, you can do that Mal.” Ali burned her girlfriend. “So Basically anything that I wouldn’t have done in College.”

 

“Hey but look where you are now!” Ash quickly said as she hopped on her fiancé and kissed her.

 

Alex quickly turned the camera to stop showing the women’s PDA to the 18-year-old. “Okay, we are refocusing back to Mal.” She yelled at the pair who were giggling on the chair next to her.  

 

“What is the weather there?”

 

“Sunny, about 80 today, not to humid” Mal responded

 

“Do you know what type of party it is?”

 

“I don’t know, a college party at the football house.”

 

“Those were my favorite kind!” Ali screamed in the background.

 

Alex gave a quick smirk and rolled her eyes, “Do you have that crop top that we bought in Philly after we went prom dress shopping?”

 

“That would be perfect with the high wasted black shorts that you wore after the She Believes.”

 

“What shoes? Mal panned over the over 30 pairs she had in her room, Alex laughed, the similarities between Mal and her older teammates were crazy. She might be only 18, but she fit in so well with the gals, and was so much like them at that age it was crazy.

 

“The black strappy ones we bought at January camp!” Ali said in the background. She was looking over Alex’s shoulder now, focusing on Mal’s outfit preparation.

 

“Okay, so this?” Mal panned over the outfit laying on her bed.

 

“Yes, Perfect” All three women said in Unison, Ash had come behind Ali, hugging her from behind from what Mal could see.

 

“Okay awesome. Thanks so much guys! You’re the best!”

 

“No Problem.” Alex said. “Anytime, you know that! Now BE CAREFUL tonight. Be sure to watch what is going on around you, and not to take any pictures with alcohol in your hands, and be careful of what pictures people are taken of you and posting on social media. There should be no headaches you have to recover from in the morning, social media or otherwise!”

 

“I know, I know. Trust me I didn’t even want to go out tonight, but I HAVE to. I’ll be sure to lay low.”

 

“No, go out and have a great time Mal, just be sure to be smart and safe, remember it’s the best four years of your life!” Ali said in the background.

 

Mal laughed, “I don’t know how anything can top this past one, but I will have fun! Thank you guys! Love you!”

 

“Love you!” The three women echoed in the background as they hung up the phone.

 

Mal took a deep breath and turned around. She looked up at Anna, who’s mouth was wide open gaping at Mal in shock.

 

“What?” Mal asked her friend.

 

“Oh. My. God. Mal.”

 

“What?” Mal was super confused by the girl’s reaction. She had no idea what was wrong.

 

“Mal, you just FaceTimed ALEX MORGAN, ALI KRIEGER AND ASHLYN HARRIS for fashion advice. AND YOU ARE ACTING LIKE IT IS NO BIG DEAL AT ALL!”

 

Mal was the one smirking this time. She texted the gals on a regular basis, talking to them almost every day about things going on in hers and theirs lives. She was one of the first ones to find out about Ali and Ash’s engagement right after they got home from the Olympics. These girls were like the older sisters she never had. They gave her great advice, and she wouldn’t trade them for the world as her friends. But they were also some of the most elite professional soccer players in the world. She was star struck at her first camp, however she quickly got over that by the way the gals took her in under their wing.

 

“Haha, oh yeah that. They are really good at that type of thing, they are my go-to’s when it comes to outfits”

 

“Holy shit dude. I knew rooming with an Olympic gold medalist would be cool, but not that cool.”

 

“Well they kick of the victory tour in a month, month and a half, and we play at UCLA’s stadium. So you will get to meet them all. They are coming to our game the day before to watch me play…”

 

Mal was rambling about her friends at this point, when the sharp knock came at the door.

 

“ONE HOUR!”

 

“Shit. I need to get ready!”

 

*******************************

 

Nick was just chilling in the corner, the party got started about a half an hour ago when the Women’s soccer team showed up. As a freshman, he had no clue what to expect from this party. The guys said that they did this type of thing all the time. A bunch of the guys were dating girls on the team, so it just made sense for the two to intermingle. He was talking to one of his buddies when he saw her.

 

“Whoa, who’s that. She’s gorgeous.”

 

His friend turned around and laughed, Nick was staring at Mallory Pugh, an Olympic gold medalist on the US women’s soccer team. She was super-hot, but as his friends teased, way out of the backup freshman linebackers league.

 

“We’ll see about that” Nick answered them. He wasn’t sure if it was the beer talking, or just him being overly confident. But he was determined to talk to her.

 

“Hi there” Nick said.

 

“Hi there” Mal matched Nick's words and confidence standing up a bit straighter, making her small frame try to seem bigger next to the 6’4” linebacker.

 

“I think you are really beautiful.” Nick's words made Mal blush. She had been hit on before, and this certainly was not her first rodeo with drunk guys at parties, but something about this one seemed different. Maybe it was because she was at college, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on this one.

 

“Well you are pretty handsome as well.”

 

“Can I get you a drink?” Mal learned a long time ago never to drink anything she hadn’t poured herself at parties. Especially in this type of environment.

 

“No thank you, I am good for right now. But you can stay around and talk?” At this point the group that Mal had been standing with had all given her some space with Nick.

 

“That sounds perfect” Nick said.

 

The two talked for the rest of the night. It was almost like they were the only two people in the room. They had so much in common, and Nick was so easy to talk to Mal thought. At the end of the night Mal and Nick and exchanged numbers and took a quick picture together, which she sent to the gals with the caption, “First college party=success”

 

***************************

 

The first practice that morning for Nick was rough, all he could think about was Mal, the pretty girl that he met at the party last night. He thought about texting her that morning, but then decided it would be really creepy of him. So he waited until after his practices to text her. Little did he know, mal was having the same problem about a mile away at her practice. She just couldn’t get her mind off the boy at the party last night.

 

Mal’s phone was exploding when she got back to her dorm room. She forgot to plug it in when she got back from the party, so she just left it in her dorm room charging during practice. 306 text messages, all from the gals. They were all responding to the picture she had sent in the group message that Mal had sent the night before. Since she wasn’t there to respond to their many questions, they had come up with some big elaborate story about the boy in the picture and what he had done to Mal and why she wasn’t answering. They all knew very well she had practice, but they could still have some fun with it.

 

Mal was about halfway through reading the gals messages and cracking up when a message from a new number popped up.

 

_ Hey, its Nick! I had a great time with you last night. I was wondering, if you weren’t busy tonight, maybe we could grab some ice cream? _

 

Mal thought the text could not have been cuter. She didn’t have any plans for that night, so she responded.

 

_ Hey! I had a great night too! I’m free tonight if you want to get ice cream. Say 7:30 ish? _

_ That Perfect! I will meet you outside the commons, by the big tree, 7:30! _

 

One party, one date. That seemed like a pretty good deal for Mal.

  
  
  



End file.
